China, in the midst of transformation, is now choosing to alert its population and inform them about the dangers of pollution. It remains to take measures to reduce it.
2015 ecological year? Why not ! Improving the quality of the environment is one of the “good resolutions” adopted by various states for 2015. Nicolas Hulot was François Hollande’s first guest. And the Institute for Public Health Surveillance has just published a study which shows that air pollution with fine particles in 17 French cities can prove to be fatal even in the short term.
Hence the need for the great ecological meeting scheduled for Paris next September which will therefore follow the UN climate conference held in Lima in December 2014. Of course, it was a great mass for protection of the environment, but it ended with a feeling of frustration: the future commitments to achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that each country will have to make in 2015 are at a minimum. Concretely, these commitments should allow an overall reduction in emissions of 40 to 70% by 2050, measures necessary if we want to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2 ° C. Above 2 ° C, all specialists consider that the threshold of danger has been reached.
If the Lima conference was extended by more than 30 hours, it is because all the countries did not agree on the financial contributions of each other and the evaluations of the measures put in place. China and India opposed an overly demanding approach. Yet China is one of the countries most involved in the production of greenhouse gases, but it is not the only one: the United States and Europe are, with China, responsible for 50% of the whole of these shows.
When China talks about pollution
And in China, as in other countries, we are talking more and more openly about pollution! It is difficult to ignore it in heavily affected cities such as Beijing, Shanghai or Canton. Beijing, where a public health forum was held very recently, organized by the Foundation of the Academy of Medicine and the “Chinese Medical Association”, a forum which had included in its program a “Health and environment” session. Indeed, China is now aware that the quality of the environment is becoming a public health problem through the contribution of pollution, now accepted by all, to the appearance of pathologies such as cancer, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases.
Listen to Prof. Yves Levi, member of the National Academy of Medicine: “Air pollution is really an emerging issue. But the need to wear masks, as the authorities suggest, cannot be a lasting solution. ”
Closed factories, clear sky
At the same time as the Franco-Chinese forum of the Foundation of the Academy of Medicine was held, the APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which brought together 21 heads of state from Asia-Pacific, took place. including Barack Obama. And to show itself to the great of this world in its best face, the Chinese authorities had transformed Beijing into a dead city: shutdown of all its factories, vacations for the administration and schools, automobile traffic divided by two. Result: the sky is finally uncovered, azure blue sky and crystalline air… Unheard of since the 2008 Olympic Games!
High pressure situation
But the high pollution rate in the large cities of the Middle Kingdom is also due to rather specific atmospheric conditions, which can also be found throughout Asia, the continent most affected by the emission of fine particles. in the air. Certainly the economic development which consumes large quantities of coal and biofuels is indeed in question, but it is not alone: the dispersion of this pollution is partly blocked by the monsoons which create the equivalent of an anticyclone in high altitudes; this generates a veritable reservoir of pollution above China.
But, if we are aware of pollution peaks, in particular in a high pressure situation, which we also know well in our latitudes, the peaks should not mask, according to Professor Denis Charpin (North Hospital of Marseille), the health consequences mainly due to the excessive level of background pollution.
Beijing ready to relocate industries
Dare to talk about pollution in China, how was this possible? It was up to Jean-Marie Dru, the president of the FAM, to establish the program of the forum in partnership with the Chinese Medical Association and its president and former Minister of Health from 2007 to 2011, Pr Chen Zhu. And paradoxically, the theme of pollution was accepted all the more so as the former Minister of Health had written an article a few months earlier on this real problem that the large Chinese cities were experiencing.
Listen to Jean-Marie Dru, president of the Foundation of the Academy of Medicine: “ There has been a clear shift from the Chinese authorities. They now consider that the population must be aware of the stakes of pollution. “
In addition, still for Jean-Marie Dru, “the whole world is looking at China and China is very ambitious with a hegemonic desire to set an example in all areas including health and education. And the authorities would therefore be ready to go very far, even to relocate their factories… ”
While waiting for these decisions, it remains to live in Beijing in this puree of peas. The Franco-Chinese forum was also open to students in medicine, pharmacy and science, who were able to express themselves. For “Tredilin”, 25 years old, in 3th year of pharmacy, hope brings : London at the turn of the century was just as polluted as Beijing today. However, the air quality is now quite correct in London, so Beijing will do the same. And in the meantime, this student considers herself to belong to a sacrificed generation …
Listen to a Chinese pharmacy student: “Perhaps we are a sacrificed generation … But, we are confident, China will reduce its pollution level. “
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